


brevity is the soul

by screaminginternally



Series: fandom countdown to the sequel [1]
Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-11-18 05:12:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 8,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11284383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/screaminginternally/pseuds/screaminginternally
Summary: Tumblr is having a countdown to the premiere of Descendants 2I'm writing some stuff for it.





	1. june 21: Mal

**june 21: Mal**

 

Mal knows her grasp of her magic is tenuous. Not her ability to use it, her control of it. When the limousine carrying her and her friends passed through the barrier that first time, she felt the magic in her veins. Like a bubbly fizz prickling on her skin, just waiting for her to reach out and grab it. It was intoxicating.

 

So, when she had, that first spell - so frivolous and petty, she'd thought, to be the first thing she used her magic on in her life - it had worked like a dream.

 

The grin on her face in the mirror - it wasn't just to get at Jane, make her think they were friends.

 

But . . the more she's been using the book Maleficent had given her, the more her spells seem to go awry. She misfires. It goes too big, or too small. Something is wrong with her magic, and Mal is starting to wonder if it's her.

 


	2. june 22: Uma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> does anyone else thinking its weird for kids who've chosen to be 'good' are proclaiming themselves 'rotten' to anyone who'll listen? its really weird. "we're rotten." "to the core". then why are you trying to be good??

**june 22: Uma**

 

She'd been picking along the edge of the island when the 'Isle Four' had been taken away - standing directly beneath the bridge, actually. Watching the limousine drive over the golden bridge, over her head, she'd watched it with a smirk on her face. Those pampered snobs bringing those four hellions straight to the heart of their bubble? Uma was willing to bet the school would burn down within the month.

 

She'd been wrong. Instead of living up to the reputation they'd all built on the Isle, they'd turned. Chosen to be _good_. Her blood had boiled when she'd seen it. Not for Mal's sappy speech. But because it had been the moment she'd realised that . . they'd forget them. Everyone else on the Isle.

 

Mal and Evie and Jay and Carlos, the ones loudly proclaiming they were 'rotten to the core' went _soft_ , settling into Auradon with nary a backward glance.

 

Uma and hers would never leave this cursed spit of rock. For that, for the betrayal of their own, she would hate them forever. Went she took Auradon for herself, those traitors would be the first to hang.

 


	3. june 23: Evie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was actually kinda tricky for me? i couldn't really figure out where to start. or what aspects of evie to write about. i wanna write about her sciencey side but i sucked at science in school.

**june 23rd: Evie**

 

Despite herself, Evie finds herself incapable of not comparing what her mother taught her to the experiments she learns about in school.

 

Clean the utensils, make sure they're good to be used. (Prime your face, clean it of any imperfections. Have a smooth, clean base.)

 

Measure the ingredients. (Bases first: concealer, foundation.)

 

Begin the mix for the desired result. (Apply the colour, the blush, bronzer, eyebrows.)

 

Keep an eye on the temperature of the bunsen burner, make sure the chemicals are not reacting poorly. (Begin on the eyes: eyeshadow, liner, curl the lashes, mascara.)

 

Stir the chemicals, fix anything that may cause a problem. (Curl your hair, make sure there is not a strand out of place.)

 

What are the results? (Check in the mirror before you leave the castle.)

 

Write it up. (Touch up any flaws during the day, and make sure no one sees you do it. Can't be seen as anything less than perfect, can we?)

 

Evie thinks she prefers science and chemistry.


	4. june 24: Carlos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tell me you don't see him working with animals forever. you wont convince me

**june 24th : Carlos**

 

Fairy Godmother was the one who suggested the job. The animal shelter in Auradon City - stray animals having a safe, warm place to be cared for until they were adopted? Carlos fell in love immediately. The volunteer position was his.

 

If you asked, he'd say he didn't have a favourite animal, they all were (except for Dude. Dude had a special place in his heart, and always would.) but that would . . be a little bit of a lie. There were the ones that just felt like he needed them in his life. The warm fur, big eyes, all of it made him feel better. Less anxious, less concerned about himself and his life (those quiet whispers in his head that sounded like his mother, that terrified him), none of that pervaded his mind when he was with the animals. It was a safe place, and nothing bad ever happened while he was at the shelter.

 

He ended up working there all through high school, and even had some shifts over the course of his university years. Despite all the complaints Evie would make about his getting fur over the clothes she'd supply him, he never even considered giving the place up.

 


	5. june 25: Jay

**june 25th: Jay**

 

Jay has spent his entire life with more energy than he knows what to do with. A constant need to move is always there, under his skin.

 

For a long life on the isle, there were only a couple outlets, fewer that he even enjoyed. Running atop the buildings and shacks was his firm favourite, but there was always that quiet, small wariness in his head that constantly reminded him of the danger he was throwing himself in for the adrenaline rush. That, if he missed one tiny movement, he'd fall and break his neck. Crack a bone, shatter cartilage, bleed out on the cobbled ground. The adrenaline wore off, and he'd stay awake when he could be sleeping and dissect his own actions. He'd invent his own demise, constantly gory and painful. When running with loot for his dad, he made sure to stay closer to the ground. Knowing Jafar, if Jay died with merchandise, the old man would find a way to scold his ghost for getting blood on it.

 

Tourney was the first time he'd ever smashed into someone without getting a shoulder-covering bruise. The worst was a dull thud beneath his skin. The game encouraged you to run as fast as you possibly could, make hairpin turns, work with people to exhaust yourself, without the potential of a knife fight before it ended.

 

After that first practice that got him on the team, Jay slept rested for the first time in ages. The burn in his muscles settled, the energy quieted. He felt focused, calmer, restless not at all. Calm. That was the best thing about the sport, for him.

 

The jersey with his name on it, the reassurance of a team that would have his back in a game, a coach that gave a damn about him as a person, that all was just a bonus.

 


	6. june 26: Ben

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im super annoyed w how bens kingship is dealt w in canon?? HES KING. STOP EXPECTING HIM TO BE ABLE TO DROP EVERYTHING.  
> he's an idealist he isn't going to know everything abt running a kingdom. nothing could prepare you. he wants to do good just give him time. god forbid running a country be difficult and time consuming. he did right by the main characters but the potential political ramifications of it is horrifying

**june 26th: Ben**

 

Despite everything, his job is more soul-crushing than he'd expected.

 

His parents had been showing him governance since he was old enough to pay attention properly. His classwork was almost double that of his peers, every day he didn't have an extracurricular to fill his time, he had special tutors to help him go over historical and present governance in Auradon proper, and international countries, as well as their relationship with his father's kingdom. Rarely did he ever get a day where his future job was not brought up in some way.

 

And yet . . he still hadn't been fully prepared for this. When he wasn't in school or classes, he was committing himself to his duties. Meetings, discussions, smoothing over and solving the constant problems of his kingdom, from the Sidekicks League that were still haranguing him for more rights and privileges, even when those desired privileges caused difficulties for others; to the near-onslaught of some Royals that had problems with the desires of the Sidekick League, or the whims of their children that weren't being addressed by their school (why were they coming to him with this? That stuff was Fairy Godmother's purview); or trying to deal with his country's rampant consumerism that was starting to cause a strain on their country's resources, especially now that magic wasn't allowed to be used to fix those problems - not to mention the steady but not yet overwhelming flow of pro-magic letter's the castle was receiving; Ben was getting on average, less than six hours of sleep a night. Sometimes he got six and a half - if the weekend wasn't going to be too busy.

 

Despite his requests for his father's guidance, their reception on their cruise was not all that reliable, and his father's advice was rarely useful. 'Intimidate them until they leave you alone' was not something Ben wanted to employ (although he was starting to really understand why his father was so fond of it), and his other advice was similarly un-useful.

 

With the workload, he hadn't been able to initiate his plan to bring more Isle kids over to Auradon. He did have support from other monarchs that oversaw the nation states that made up Auradon - Queen Elsa, Cinderella, The Emperor of China was open to it, as was Kuzco, Merida of Dunbroch and several others - there were still those that disagreed, especially those with a voice in the media. They used - or tried using - the Incident at his coronation as a fix point for reasons why the children shouldn't be allowed to 'be good'. That they shouldn't get the choice, nor the chance.

 

Even though he wouldn't change _his_ choice for anything, when Ben brought Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay over, he'd strapped a cinderblock to his foot, and forgotten how deep the water was before he jumped in. He wanted to stop drowning, even for a minute.


	7. june 27: Jane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> auradon is really messed up for fae

**june 27th: Jane**

 

Contrasting what her peers thought of her, she wasn't as naive as they thought. Sure, she didn't make dirty jokes, swear (unless she had a reason to), she dressed similar to her mother. None of that meant she was somehow less aware of the world. Quite the opposite.

 

Fae have a tendency to grow and adapt faster than humans - from an early age, the only thing childish about Jane was her appearance - beneath her childish looks and stature lay the mind of someone with the mental maturity of a teenager.

 

Sure, she made the same mistakes as her peers, she behaved similar enough to her peers - the cultural misperceptions of fae meant that most teachers and adults were thrown when she opened her mouth and sentences that belonged in the mouths of high schoolers. She learned to suppress herself.

 

Just like she learned to suppress her desire to fly, to make magic dance at her fingertips. The butterfly-like wings that should've grazed the winds instead lay flat on her back, tucked beneath her pale dress; the magic in her skin, in her bones, buzzed in her mind rather in the air.

 

She learned to hate people approaching her, asking for magic to solve their problems. She hated them, the constant reminders that they believed magic to be all she was good for - that she should break the law to solve their problems, no questions asked, no need for a 'please' or a 'thank you'.

 

A creature made of light and magic, Jane learned to suppress herself, to follow the fascist law created by a man afraid of a force he didn't understand. She learned the very intimate hatred of constant double standards. She hated the entitlement of her peers, the clouds their heads were safely tucked in by the world.

 

Despite what she presented to the world and her classmates perceptions, Jane was far from naive. Jane was intimately aware of everything. The constant, simmering anger she directed at the world was a very familiar friend to the Fairy Goddaughter.


	8. june 28: Lonnie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think lonnie's someone who enjoys watching the chaos happen, rather than making it happen

**june 28th: Lonnie**

 

So the good thing about her brother going to Auradon Prep before her was that Lonnie had an early viewing of what, exactly, people expected from the children of the saviour(s) of China. Generally it was: amazing unbeatable child soldiers that were miniatures of their parents - Although, in fairness, being a miniature version of their parents was the general expectation of all the kids at Auradon Prep. But double standards and hypocrisy are human nature, so - that were experts in weaponry and warfare.

 

As per the way reality actually works, neither Lonnie nor any of her siblings actually fit that description, never mind perfectly.

 

Lonnie definitely has her own passion for sports - she and her siblings and assorted family friends are enough in number to field a team in multiple sports. She likes sword fighting and martial arts, but she also likes dancing and mixing music and baking and pretty clothes. There isn't much she can bring herself to hate, but she'll never appreciate people trying to pigeonhole her and her family just from a reputation.

 

She loved going on trips and adventures with her family, but she'd always prefer just watching what they could get themselves into, rather than making shenanigans happen.

 

When she goes to Auradon Prep, her brother had managed to turn the initial expectation around, and Lonnie was grateful - instead of dealing with other people's misinformed expectations, she could simply be herself, even if 'being herself' didn't make her the most popular in the school. Lonnie didn't mind. She could simply . . watch everything unfold, rather than be expected to _help_ things unfold.


	9. june 29: Audrey

**june 29th: Audrey**

 

Audrey hadn't wanted to leave. She loved her school, she had friends, she was even making strides with the VKs. But her parents worried - their eldest daughter, at school with the daughter of their worst enemy, the enemy that _managed to escape the Isle_! It simply wasn't safe, not for her.

 

That's what her parents thought, at least. Their fears were not helped by the presence of Maleficent's lizard form being so close to her, either. She was kept in a room not far from Mal's room, and Audrey understood the wariness. Personally, she went out of her way to avoid the door to Maleficent's 'cell'.

 

She had found herself able to . . tolerate the company of Mal and Ben at the same time, before she'd left. She was never going to pretend she was okay with how their relationship came to be, but they seemed to be happy - even if Mal was wearing clothes suspiciously similar to Audrey's own these days.

 

Audrey kept up with the gossip, of course. She knew that the public had grown used to seeing her on Ben's arm. The leather-clad purple-haired fae girl probably wasn't what the morality keepers wished to see on their monarch's arm, but Audrey had never seen how their opinion mattered. They certainly never had to Ben, he had always been more worried about the reception of his actions, rather than his appearance. Audrey could see how it would effect Mal, though.

 

Pity. The girl had seemed to have spent her whole life trying to appease Maleficent, if her words at Ben's coronation were anything to go by. Now she was trying to please an entire country. (There were moments when Audrey wondered whether or not the girl even had her own sense of self, or if it was all about pleasing others. Say what you will about Audrey, at least she knew her own likes and dislikes.)

 

But for what it was worth, Audrey appreciated being closer to home. She went to the private girls-only school in her father's kingdom. It was mostly lower-level aristocracy, but Audrey liked the girls all the same. She liked being able to return to her parent's castle at the end of the school day, and being with her younger siblings.

 

There were times her heart pained for Auradon Prep, and the way her life used to be, but it was okay. Audrey could adapt.


	10. june 30: Gil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If disney wanted this to be closer to whatever Gil's canon personality is, they should've given me more information.
> 
> Eh. I'd have probably written this like this anyway.

**june 30th: Gil**

 

It takes someone actually sitting Gil down and patiently watching him that he actually progresses in book learning. Patiently, steadily, his tutor walks him through all the things he's always struggled with - things just . . have trouble _sticking_ in his mind, getting there in the first place. He's absorbed some stuff over the years, but it seems like his mind is an already-wet sponge: try as it might, sucking up new stuff isn't the easiest thing.

 

But, after a few weeks of living in the luxury that was Auradon, the breakthrough happens. Like a dam splitting from pressure, the information starts flowing through his mind, but. It _stays_ now. He doesn't know why. But he likes it.

 

He likes going to class and taking in all the information that the teacher gives, he likes going over it in his notes and in the textbooks. He even likes studying, to the point that when the nerd kids let him join their study groups, he actually donates to the conversation.

 

He takes up leisure reading, when the classes stop giving him new information, just stuff to revise. He borrows books from the school library, later getting a card for the city library, where he's shown around by the beautiful Queen his father had wanted, all those years ago.

 

(He likes her. His father would probably rant something about how Gil could've been her son, but Gil finds he doesn't care either way. She's a nice lady. He gets why she didn't like his father. Gil doesn't like his father very much, either.)

 

In his first summer in Auradon, when the schools don't run and there's free time galore, he reads fifty-five books over the three months. Five and five. Fibonacci numbers. Why does he know that? Because three of those books were about math.

 

He, the son of Gaston, likes math. Who knew?


	11. july 1: Harry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (thomas doherty's eyes are. like. REALLY pretty.)
> 
> (also i didn't want to write about his hook or whatever. im reaching, here)

**july 1st: Harry**

 

He gets his blue eyes from his mother.

 

His father's eyes are dark, almost black, reflecting the insanity within his mind. Harry's sisters inherited them: Harriet in her anger, her ferocious temperament toward life; Calista Jane (she hates the name, but Harry doesn't care. Driving his sisters pissy is Harry's favourite sport) in her erratic movements, her whip-quick thought processes that change on a dime.

 

But his - his are as blue as the sky above, distorted by the infernal dome locking them to the rocks. He thinks that his eyes don't help his father's opinion of him, the Hook daughters the perpetual favourites. The original Captain Hook openly prefers his daughters, loudly claiming when Harry was young that his sisters had truly inherited Hook's evilness. Harry, cursed by his eyes, would never catch up. His mother had blue eyes, however. Harry doesn't remember much about her - she had hair the colour of his father's ship's wood, skin blemished by the sun, a smile that Harry thinks he sees in his own reflection, and blue eyes.

 

He doesn't know what exactly happened to her. Just that one day . . she wasn't there anymore. He never sees her in the streets of the Isle, and her corpse never turned up in the gutters or on the shore.

 

Harry knows he'll forever be the third fiddle of his father's children, and he's reached the point where he no longer cares. His eyes cursed his father to never see his potential, but it no longer matters. _Uma_ knows his potential, what he's capable of, what his loyalty means. Harry is Uma's First Mate, she the Captain. Hook can hang. Harry has everything he needs, now.


	12. july 2: Doug

**july 2nd: Doug**

 

One story Doug would never tell (at least, not with the current societal beliefs) was how his parents had met. He'd heard it many times, sitting in front of the fire on a quiet evening, his father playing the flute loud enough that his mother's voice wouldn't be heard.

 

His mother had been travelling through the little town near his uncle's home when the mine had caved in. The old wooden struts had finally broken and the debris had crushed his father's leg, the bone sticking out from the skin. He'd been rushed straight down to the town, the local doctor managing to re-set the leg. Dopey had had to stay the night.

 

In that night, he met the witch who had recently settled in the town, offering her services as a midwife to the mothers in the village and a basic healer to others that didn't want see the point of seeing the doctor. She'd helped Dopey deal with his injury, giving him medicine for the pain while the doctor dealt with others.

 

Over the time it took for him to recover, the two spent more time together and eventually fell in love.

 

The wedding had been quiet and not well-publicised, both at the preference of the participants and due to the then-recent decrees of anti-magic in the country. Doug's mother had been a practising witch for years by that point, and advertising that one of the fabled Seven Dwarves was marrying a woman that shared the same career as the evil queen who had terrorised the fair Snow White for years was not likely to go over well, never mind that Doug's mother identified herself as a practitioner of White Magic, and had taken a vow to never harm another living thing.

 

In the years of Doug's life, he'd been encouraged to consider his father's trade, and had been taught all the necessary knowledge for the job. His mother, however, had made sure he knew all the basics of her craft - the herbs, the flowers, the manner of thinking that made the magic flow. While they all acknowledged that witchcraft was not a profitable job anymore - in the current climate towards magic, anyway - knowing about it wouldn't hurt. His mother made sure all of Doug's cousins knew about it too.

 

Learning witchcraft was the catalyst for his interest in science, as a matter of fact. The recipes for spells and potions and blessings had resonated with him, and in the classroom, the familiarity of experiments was comforting. Doug would always thank his mother for her influence on his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (at the coronation in the first movie, there's a bit with doug in the background having his bow tie straightened by a tall brunette lady, with a shorter man standing by. that's my evidence for this)


	13. july 3: Chad

**july 3rd: Chad**

 

He would never argue with the idea he was a momma's boy.

 

Sure, he might disagree with the terminology, just because it sounded like some attempt at a playground taunt, but yeah. Through and through, Chad adored his mother.

 

Which isn't to say he doesn't love his father or siblings, never. He is the middle child, the 'medium brother' to the eldest Charming, Charlie, and the kid above Cynthia as the youngest. Sure, Charlie was the 'boss' kid, and Cindy was the 'baby' kid, and despite his best efforts, Chad could feel himself grappling with middle-child syndrome, he did love his family.

 

But his mother . . she was the rock in his life, the one he could always turn to for advice, or just a hug. His dad was just kept constantly busy running the state/nation/whatever his kingdom was ever called now - seriously, they called them 'kingdoms' despite apparently all the taxes going towards the government in Auradon City? There was a reason Chad was never going into politics - that you wouldn't go to Dad unless you felt you really needed to.

 

(This isn't to say Chad's mother wasn't an authority in his life. When Cinderella wound out about his cheating in school and Chad had to re-take the exams (and predictably failed), Cinderella had hammered the lesson of 'cheaters never prosper' by making copies of the results and doing a letter-box drop to _everyone_ that worked in the castle _and_ the surrounding neighbours in the city.

 

The memories of _that_ humiliation would haunt him forever.)

 

Chad loved his family. he hoped that one day, he would _actually_ manage to live up to their name, instead of simply being told he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i couldn't really think of anything with this. sorry.


	14. july 4: pick a character

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hades: he can't be on the isle forever, someone needs to run the underworld

**july 4th: choose a character**

 

All he'd wanted was to **not** spend eternity in the Underworld. Was that so much? Apparently, yes. Only allowed to leave the Underworld a handful of times a year for centuries, he'd tried to take over that heaven on a mountain. And now he was in prisoned on an island. Honestly, if the food were a little better, it would be a vacation the likes of which he hadn't seen in millennia.

 

And, shit, he's even got his kids here, too!

 

Granted, none of them actually want to be here, but neither does he!

 

Macaria and Melinoe, well. They don't care to fit with the society - neither does he, but at least he does it with _style_ \- and spend all their time in the catacombs beneath their home. Having set up a manse in the cemetery of the Isle, the girls keep their own rooms in crypts, coming to the manse when they want company. But Zagreus . . he's not twenty yet. Looks younger, too. So he pretends he's younger and goes to school with the rest of the little villain brats. Keeps his eyes on them, cackles at their antics and staves off his own boredom. Of course, he says his name is different - _Hadrien_ , really? - to fit with the copycat kids of their devious parents, because the Isle is full of _deeply imaginative_ people.

 

But either way - he's getting dragged off the Isle within the century, he knows it. Pain and Panic, their demonly buddies that still exist in the land down under, they hear that the castellan ol' Zeus stuck doing Hades' job ain't handling it too well. Soon enough, they'll fetch Hades off this leather-fetish island and punt his ass back to the Hell he tried to escape, his kids in tow.

 

It's been a nice break, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> macaria and melinoe are the goddesses of blessed death and ghosts respectively. zagreus is the god of mysteries. in mythos they're the children of gods+hades but in disney hades ain't married. so their mothers are fae or dryads or something. hades isn't gonna be on the isle forever be honest. also his kids are on the isle because descendants ain't a fair universe lets be real. 
> 
> also i know that hades isn't actually in descendants proper, but the books say he's on the isle. NOBODY EVER SAID I COULDN'T WRITE THIS SO IT COUNTS


	15. july 5: Mal/Evie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm writing with the movie in mind, because EQ and Mal Sr act like friends in the movie, but De La Cruz had them hate each other in the book. I'm sick of rivalry, so instead they buddies.

**july 5th: mal/evie**

 

Maleficent and the Evil Queen kept up appearances for the sake of the Isle's population, but they didn't actually hate each other. They appreciated each other's skills and knowledge, especially on the Isle, where actual intelligence about things that weren't plotting where scarce.

 

So Mal and Evie grew up together, were encouraged to learn to work together (for the sake of evil plans, of course. If scheming with others, it is best to know each other's strengths and weaknesses, for the best outcome. And for whenever you decide to stab them in the back). With Jay and Carlos, the two girls became fearsome villains-to-be indeed.

 

So it was very inconvenient when Mal found herself more distracted by Evie than not. Just . . her face, her big dark eyes that could be as alluring or as innocent as she wished, her eye-catching dark locks - it kept popping up in Mal's mind, even at the most unwelcome times, like when Mal was trying to plot a new prank for school.

 

Evie was quickly growing from a cute kid into a pretty girl, and it was bothering Mal. Not because Mal _cared_ , mind you, her evil was about scheming and magic, Evie's was her looks and vanity, but because suddenly, Mal had a hard time _not_ looking at Evie. She was nice to look at. Definitely more deserving of the title of 'Princess' than the spoilt, polished bints in Auradon.

 

Evie was going to be beautiful, one day. Mal was going to be a Queen of Evil, one day. Mal just had to keep her eyes on the prize, and stay from being distracted by her friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (full disclosure here: i have a really hard time shipping malvie or jaylos, mostly because I'm one of those people who become more disenchanted with a ship the more i have to deal with shippers insisting on inserting their ship into everything, even when it isn't relevant. i ship them in a vague 'they're cute' manner, but my dislike of the 'vocal obnoxious minority' fans keeps me from being too enthusiastic, and therefore writing my best. i was in fandom when the zutara/kataang ship wars were a thing. i'm too old for ship-war messes. for me, polyamory is the only love-triangle i care to see)


	16. july 6: jay/carlos

**july 6th: jay/carlos**

 

Personally, Jay enjoys Auradon for the fact that openly caring about people isn't violently discouraged. On the Isle, you were supposed to care about yourself and your parents, and that was about it. But Jay, for himself . . he's always liked people. Stealing hearts was so easy for him on the Isle: when you can find yourself liking people without trouble, it's easy to make them like you back.

 

But he prefers Auradon for that. He can openly call someone a friend. He can hug Evie in the halls and no one cares. He and Mal behave as they have for years, but now he doesn't insult her to keep up appearances. He can like people out loud. He loves it.

 

And he loves Carlos. _That_ is actually something he hasn't admitted openly, though. But he'll admit it to himself. He loves Carlos. The boy's smile, his eyes, his brain, his easy admittance to the new world they lived in, the way he looks without a shirt . . Jay loves it.

 

He won't say it to Carlos though. For as long as Jay has known him, Carlos has always been good at hiding his real feelings - his mother's existence had demanded it - and because of it, Jay isn't certain. He knows Carlos likes him, calls him friend. But anything deeper? You might as well ask for transparency from tar. So he isn't going to push it. He'll be normal, his new normal, and let his happiness with his friends (it always feels good, to say that word out loud) be open for all to see.

 

But Carlos? Jay is keeping that to himself. He can still keep secrets, and this isn't one that he minds. He'll be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jay is surprisingly easy for me to write??? i think he's the easiest of the VKs for me? wow.
> 
> also pining is my shit.


	17. july 7: Ben/Mal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (basically d2 premise if mal and ben had talked shit out)

**july 7th: ben/mal**

 

So, Ben messed up. Completely his fault, he admits it. If he'd noticed sooner just how badly Mal was taking everything, he could've acted sooner. Helped her with this mess sooner. Being in the public eye is something Ben's had to deal with his entire life - he's never thought he'd get otherwise. But Mal hasn't. Beyond 'Maleficent's daughter' Mal has never been under scrutiny, at least not to the blinding, cloying degree the Auradon Paparazzi corps gets. And with Audrey having been in the public eye as the expected 'future queen' regardless of Ben's feelings on that matter . . Ben understands how Mal got to this point. So her lashing out . . it's understandable, and Ben yelling at her for whatever it was they were arguing over . . it's a mess of their own creation.

 

But where Ben was taught that when couples argue, there should be a cooling off period before apologies, Mal was apparently taught to just cut all ties and pretend the other person is dead and six feet under. And that's where the problem is now.

 

But Evie wants this to end too. So, she's allowed Ben a window of opportunity to apologise and hopefully, Mal will listen, even if she doesn't accept.

 

Armed with a bag of spray paint and wearing the most 'normal' clothes he owns, Ben knocks on the girls' room door.

 

Mal opens it, and Ben has to keep from exhaling a hard breath. She doesn't seem surprised to see him, but Ben does know that Mal is very good at keeping her emotions secret.

 

Before either of them says anything, Ben thrusts the paper bag in his hand in Mal's face. She quirks an eyebrow, her face the physical equivalent of a question mark. "An apology gift," Ben explains. Mal takes the bag and re-enters her room, Ben's invitation to enter obvious.

 

He follows and Mal closes the door. "So, your way of getting your foot in the door is to present me with a bouquet of spray cans?" she asks.

 

"Figured it'd get me in the door," replies Ben, "so I can talk this over with you in person. Calmly. Because I lost my temper at you before, and you didn't deserve that. I hadn't considered how different this would all be for you - what people would expect from you, that they'd all see you as my proverbial future wife, rather than a girl I was dating. I didn't consider how it might effect you, and I didn't notice when it did. I'm sorry, Mal. I should've been better."

 

Mal's mouth was gaping in shock, but the little speech works. They talk it over. How Mal hasn't been dealing with the expectations on her, now. How she'd been dressing like Audrey to compensate. How her 'lady of the court' act was wearing her down. How she knows it isn't Ben's fault, but she can't help but blame him. There's tears, and hugs. Speeches about working together, and how the public doesn't get a say in their relationship. Both people leave feeling better, all more-or-less forgiven.

 

When King Ben has a public function the next night, Mal is on his arm, her formerly-blonde hair entirely purple and her dress a lovely shade of lavender.


	18. july 8: jay/mal/evie/carlos

**july 8th: jay/mal/evie/carlos**

 

To the people of their home, they were the Worst. Rotten To The Core, the children of evil, the four of them. Mal, the leader, the devious heir to all evil. Jay, the thief and the fighter, sneaky and scary even when pretending he wasn't. Evie, the distraction, prettiest girl on the island, who could make sure you knew it. Carlos, the smart one, who knew out everything about everything. The four hellions, wreaking havoc just because they could, with their collection of others who would be the army that would rip down the luxury of Auradon, for villains to take what was owed them.

 

(Four scared children, never taught to know that they were scared. Desperately clinging to the legacies given to them - whether they wanted it or not - and finding each other, bonding together to protect themselves. Coming together because . . they want each other. Family, more or less, that depended on one another the way the children couldn't rely on their flesh and blood. An incestuous family: nary a night passed without each having - at minimum - one of the other four in their bed, whether for exercise or closeness; but a family nonetheless.)

 

(Mal knew Jay first, Carlos knew Evie first. But Evie didn't hide her desire for Mal, and Carlos didn't hide his desire for Jay, and Jay and Mal at that point were a package deal. The four of them, whether their life as it was would last, were going to stay together. No matter what they had to do, or who they had to be, for it to stay that way.)


	19. july 9: Harry/Mal

**july 9th: harry/mal**

 

Never one for self-delusion, Harry was willing to admit his preference for girls that could beat the shit out of him. He'd been carrying a torch for Uma basically since he'd met her and she'd almost broken his nose, that first time. That fire for her was still there, but Harry was realistic. Other fish in the sea, as his father's men would say. And as a teenage boy with masochistic tendencies, he turned his eye from his fearsome friend (who would likely one day rule the high seas by sheer force of personality), to the sublime fae girl of the Isle. The daughter of pure evil with eyes to match, and Harry sure knew how to pick 'em.

 

Still, she hadn't actually given him anything worse than a couple black eyes and broken fingers, but that bright green flare in her eyes was intoxicating. Harry wanted to see _that_ again.

 

So he picked at her attention. She had a short fuse, which he liked, and that fuse was connected to a blazing temper just _waiting_ for the opportunity to go off. He'd flirt, she be annoyed, he'd get in her space, she'd leave him with a bruise. He loved it. And . . he could tell that she was starting to like it herself. She liked his attention, their back and forth. Was willing to let the talk last longer, the bruises come a little later, but with no less vigour.

 

He kissed her, once. Just a short peck of a thing - she left him with a broken nose for his troubles. He'd laughed with blood streaming down his face, something that looked like a smile on hers. She'd kissed the blood off his lips for him, after that.


	20. july 10: Uma/Harry/Gil

**july 10th: uma/harry/gil**

 

In the face of everything, it is apparently easy for Auradon to accept them. Not their parents, their upbringing, or _them_ , really. But the three of them, what they are to each other, _that_ is what gets easy acceptance.

 

According to the fairy girl that failed with the wand, romance between more than two people is not actually 'preferred' in Auradon, but has been forced into the public knowledge by the magic population that it's no longer a 'bizarre' thing. Uma might get sneers for what her mother did, but when she kisses Gil in the hallway, and Harry after class, not a pip. If Uma was a self-conscious person, she'd be upset.

 

But she's made her choices, and she wants to live with them. She chose to stay, to pull a _Mal_ and be 'good'. And she gets to keep her boys too.

 

Harry loves Gil and Gil loves Harry, and both love Uma and Uma loves them back.

 

The fact that here, even despite all the history, they can **be** without shame, without the Isle rules of relationships ( _only be with someone if they're useful - emotion is discouraged, emotion is to be ridiculed - end before seriousness_ ), Uma can love that. Uma can stand with her boys, they with her, in the sun. She doesn't need to pull the captain rank in order to get privacy with Harry and Gil, she hasn't pulled the mask of being a captain wanting time with her lieutenants since making her choice. Instead, she can be a girl who loves two boys. And those two boys love her right back, in the open. Everyone can see what they are. It's liberating.


	21. july 11: Chad/Doug

**july 11th: chad/doug**

 

It's a random Wednesday when he first notices it. Last class of the day, a biology lab: dissecting a cow's eye. It's utterly revolting to smell, worse to look at (why do eyeballs smell like fish? how is that a thing?), and Mr Delay had partnered him with Doug, mostly because Chad's always sucked at practical experiments. Doug's doing the actual dissecting, Chad's writing it all down, and when he looks up from the notebook to await more dictation, it's just an _oh_ sort of feeling.

 

It's easily the worst realisation of someone's attractiveness, having it happen with a cut-open ball of smelly sludge between them. But it's never really a great time to notice the exact way in which someone is appealing. Chad knows that his is his smile, his jawline, that he's got the standard attractive-rich-boy appeal. But for Doug, it's the nerdy aesthetic; his glasses are sliding down his nose behind the safety goggles, it gives off the impression of one of those absent-minded academics, too busy thinking of their nerdy shit to notice the world around them. Chad think's Doug would probably fit right in in one of those places - more science than the other boy could shake a stick at, the world around him just right for a science coma to hit him.

 

Doug's clothes aren't bad, by Chad's standards. Not really 'cool', but they work for Doug. Green sweaters, nerdy bow-ties that draw attention to his jawline, it all ties together into one nerdy, appealing package that just calls for eyes to be clapped on it. Chad would definitely prefer to spend biology class with his eyes on Doug, rather than the boring work.


	22. july 12: Audrey/Chad

**july 12th: audrey/chad**

 

Not many actually expected their relationship to last, really. It was a rebound thing, after her humiliation at Ben's hands. Sure - he and Mal had apologised for it, but that didn't really make Audrey's pain and hurt disappear. But Chad manages to make it happen. He holds her hand, wraps her in his arms, gives her his full attention to what she's saying, no matter how silly it might be (Ben sometimes got a glazed look in his eyes when she spoke of frivolous things, she knows. But frivolous is something Audrey _likes_ , and she's good at it. Paying attention doesn't kill you, even if you find the subject boring). Chad treats her like the Princess she is.

 

And she does her best to do the same.

 

Their interests don't always quite mesh; he's more sporty than she is, living for the adrenaline of a game. Audrey likes cheerleading, half because of the exercise and half for the fun of watching the game, but not to the degree that Chad loves Tourney. He's told her how he'd like to do it professionally, at least for a few years; but Audrey really isn't sure what she wants to do with her life. She'd been raised to be a queen, to rule Auradon with Ben or, failing that, ruling her father's kingdom (and she will. She wants to be a good and fair ruler to her populace, but it won't be for years yet. She doesn't know how to fill in the time yet), but Chad has more freedom in career choices, as a second child. Unless something happens to his brother, he isn't going to sit on the throne - not that he's ever said he wants to.

 

But he does, forty years down the line. Audrey is crowned Queen, and he's her Prince Consort. And despite the difficulty of their changing society from the choices of Ben's rule, the two of them, and their children, do actually live happily ever after.


	23. july 13: Jane/Carlos

**july 13th: jane/carlos**

 

Jane would never be a bombshell like some of their classmates. It's more of an 'easy on the eyes' appeal: you look at her and your eyes thank you for it.

 

Carlos first noticed it when he was looking for Dude, and found him walking with Jane. By her own admission, Jane had been the one making sure Dude had food and a bed before Carlos had adopted him, and sometimes she missed it. So now it seemed that the two of them had developed a split custody of the mutt - Carlos had him most of the time, Jane whenever Carlos couldn't do it (or just whenever Dude decided to go for a wander and ended up at Jane's feet in the process). That first time, he'd been a little struck by the image the girl and the dog had presented: her perpetual pale figure, contrasted with her long dark hair, sitting with a book and her hand rubbing at the dog's belly. It was one of those pictures of comfort; you wanted to join it, but you had to be quiet if you did in case you disrupted the scene.

 

Honestly, she radiates comfort and warmth; everything he didn't have in all the years of his childhood. Growing up with Cruella as a mother, Carlos has had to learn what others take for granted, comfort, safety, secure knowledge of their next meal and a warm bed to sleep in - all a thing he gets the sense of from Jane. Carlos finds himself wanting to lie at her feet in the grass and bask in the sunshine of her smile.


	24. july 14: Ben/Carlos

**july 14th: Ben/Carlos**

 

It was odd, at the beginning. Carlos had never met someone who could smile so brightly, like there was nothing in the world that was bogging them down. On the Isle, smiles and grins were weapons as much as anything else: something to show how dangerous you were, how the evil didn't bother you, that you relished in it.

 

On the Isle, a smile led to only two conclusions: the person smiling was insane and therefore dangerous, or they were trying to make you comfortable and therefore dangerous.

 

Ben has never seemed to be that way. He smiles wide, open, like there's a light behind his teeth and in his eyes, and he only has one way to show it off. Ben tries to make you comfortable, and he succeeds. He's never made Carlos anything but happy and relaxed, something the De Vil has sorely lacked for . . oh, his entire life.

 

It's a smile worthy of a Prince, and King. And half the time, it's directed at Carlos. He loves it.

 


	25. july 15: Doug/Evie

**july 14th: doug/evie**

 

The house Doug grew up in is on the small side. A family of three, any superfluous rooms were guest rooms or workshops, for his father or his mother. Evie finds that she can't help but like the homeyness of the building. Growing up in a castle with only two inhabitants most of the time, she knows a thing or two about having more space in your home than needed, and Doug's home is nothing like that.

 

His mother smiles with a warmth she's never associated her own mother with: cold perfect beauty that could've been carved from stone was Grimhilde's speciality. In contrast, Doug's mother has smile lines on her cheeks and in the corners of her eyes, every line noting a moment of happiness that Grimhilde forced from her own visage. She's never had a father, but Dopey is charming in all the ways his son is; considerate and understanding, willing to allow others to lead a conversation in exchange for their ears to hear your opinions. He's an excellent storyteller too, once Evie's able to properly understand his sign language. Doug takes after his parents in all the best ways.

 

She's surprised herself, really. Having been raised to get a rich husband, Evie's found she has no problem with having exactly none of that be a priority - she's creating beauty out of cloth, the way she's dreamed for years, making her own profits; her boyfriend encourages it with utter enthusiasm and he respects her as more than a pretty face. When she kisses Doug, she decides that her mother's dreams hold no sway over her.

 

Evie's living her own dream, and loving every second.


	26. july 16: Audrey/Jay

**july 16th: audrey/jay**

 

It's easy to end rebound relationships, Audrey finds. Ben humiliated her - love potion or not, decorum should be everything for a prince! - and Chad is nice to look at, but there was nothing there but surface attraction. A few quiet words before the coronation, attending as each others dates-but-only-friends . . she's open to whatever she wants, now.

 

Audrey will never pretend that she was fond of the VKs at first, but they've grown on her. Evie is the preferred one for Audrey - sweet, sly, a wonderful fit for Doug - and she's found that she can have a conversation with Carlos; with Mal, if given time . . Audrey is sure there's something about the girl that she can like without being slightly bitter. But Jay. She thinks she might like him the most.

 

She knows she caught his eye, he hadn't bothered being subtle about that. She's watched as the other girls catch his eye too, their giggly blushes a flattery of the ego for any boy, never mind one as aware of his appeal as Jay.

 

And he is. He's nothing to complain about, getting to look at him -or talk to him, his thoughts and considerations much more interesting than Audrey would have given him credit for when he first arrived. He gave her a fascinating talk about how exactly someone goes about recognising valuables on a person, and the execution of stealing those valuables. (Audrey would never steal, but hearing the exact technicalities of _how_ was enlightening.) He's a fascinating person.

 

She seems to be making a habit of having her attention taken up by boys that fulfil her entire checklist of attributes she finds fascinating.

 


	27. july 17: Jay/Evie

**july 17th - jay/evie**   
  
Jay's hands are calloused. Evie knows this, most Isle kids' hands are. (Not hers though, never. Mother would never allow her hands to be anything other than soft and smooth.) His hands are warm and strong and big, and she loves holding them. (Not that she'd ever admit it out loud, of course. They were on the Isle, where such a statement was  _weak_ . Evie performed weakness, she didn't succumb to it.)   
  
Normally deft at theft, Jay's fingers are soothing circles on her skin, the back of her hands. They're having a quiet moment, between villainous plots and their parent's expectations.   
  
These quiet moments are few and far between, for them. Carlos is snoozing in the corner, having a respite from his mother's everything, Mal softly sketching, perched on the windowsill - Evie's pretty sure she's drawing the Isle's skyline.   
  
The view from Mal's bedroom isn't half bad - a view of the Isle, most of the streets and rooftops, a straight-eye of Evie's castle, and if you look directly out the window, Auradon is in the distance, a great, glittering wish.   
  
Jay's just sitting calmly, but he is flipping a coin between and over the fingers on the hand not in Evie's.   
  
It's just a calm, soft moment the way the world can be sometimes while waiting for thunder and rain to he released from the sky. Evie rests her head on Jay and closes her eyes, holding the quiet in her lungs, willing it not to end.   
  
She wakes with her head on Jay's broad shoulder, their fingers loosely locked together. He's still there.


	28. july 18: Ben/Chad/Audrey

**july 18th - chad/ben/audrey**

  
"Are you joking?!" Chad slammed into his room, Audrey marching behind him with a look of matching anger and confusion. Ben tried not to sigh. He'd expected it. He knew he'd expected this.   
  
"No, I'm not. I meant my declaration. Those kids deserve a chance, to be able to do something with their lives. I don't need your approval."   
  
Chad's handsome face was twisted into a mask of angry confusion. Audrey was the next to voice her opinion. "Ben, why didn't you give us a heads-up? We looked like fools just standing there, gaping, as you said it."   
  
"Because I knew you'd be angry."   
  
"You could've talked it over with us." She wasn't wrong.   
  
Chad sighed, and said, "Honestly, I don't know if I'm more angry you're doing this or if you just didn't tell us." He slumped into a chair, and Audrey pursed her lips. "You shouldn't slump, Chad."   
  
"Well, my boyfriend just dropped a bomb on my head and my girlfriend is being way to reasonable about this. I'll slump as much as I want."   
  
Fair enough.   
  
Ben spent the rest of his afternoon talking it over with them, getting them to his side of the argument. Chad and Audrey definitely were not happy about the situation, but they knew he was right.   
  
Now he just had to win over an entire country.


	29. july 19: Mal/Uma

**july 19 - mal/uma**   
  
They'd had a relationship before. Well, 'relationship', whatever that word means on the Isle of the Lost. Basically it meant that they traded schemes and kissed where no one could see them. Sometimes where people could see them, but only if it was dark and smoky and everyone around them was addled from drinks and drugs - the stuff made in the recesses of the Isle, the basement distilleries.   
  
They hadn't been ripped apart by Ben's declaration - they'd managed it on their own, maybe a year before. Leading rival gangs doesn't exactly help a romantic duo, and when Mal stepped a little too far, well. Uma's retaliation wasn't pretty.   
  
A year and change later, after a new king, a new life, new hair and clothes and food, Mal stares her former . . person down from across a table, much more on the line than a reputation among people that don't care; offers to arm-wrestle for her boyfriend and a magic wand, and she wonders what it could have been, between them.


	30. july 20: Jay/Jane/Carlos

**july 20 - pick a ship:**

jay/jane/carlos

  
  
Everyone thinks that Carlos is the only one into Jane. Nah, it isn't true. It's just that Jay doesn't express his feelings quite the same way. See, being raised by Cruella - the queen of shitty parenting - has left Carlos with a feeling like he has to make it obvious that he's after a person's affections, whereas Jay was given no such hangups. Instead, he has difficulty being anything other than distantly flirty with anyone, unless he's angling to rob them. So navigating Auradonian flirting is an . . adjustment for them both.   
  
The fact that Jane always seems bewildered whenever either of them makes a move isn't exactly helping, either.   
  
Jay and Carlos had both discussed it, when they realised: the odds of both of them falling for the same girl, in this new environment, new world? Some cosmic force hates them. It was an agreement - pursue Jane with the understanding that if she just wants one, then the other won't be upset, but if she wants both, jackpot.   
  
Trouble is that Jane isn't quite picking up what they're putting down.   
  
Jay knows she's got that whole fae-empathy thing where she can feel the emotions of the people around her, so she clearly knows that something's up  re: the three of them. But he's getting the sense that despite Jane's competence with people's emotions, picking up that someone is nervous around you or feels self-conscious as a by-product of  _feelings_ isn't something she's had to negotiate before. He knows she wasn't - isn't - the most popular girl, hasn't had a relationship during her time at Auradon Prep.   
  
Jay's actually kinda stumped on how to go forward - he knows Carlos is too. Neither of them have ever been in a world where trying for an actual emotion-based romantic relationship was an option, and now that they can, they've fallen for the same person, and that person is apparently utterly confused by their attention.   
  
But he thinks that between the two of them, he and Carlos can figure out a solution.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (because carlos/jane is apparently gonna be canon and all the shipper fans are gonna lose it probably and why get into a ship war when there's an obvious solution RIGHT THERE)
> 
> (and this is the lot! I hope you've had fun reading these countdown drabbles I've written, and that the movie will hopefully be awesome.)
> 
> (also, if someone could please tell me whether or not the quality of my couples/romance writing is any good, please do, because i CANNOT tell.)


End file.
